The top 8 headlines you might have missed / Haaretz Newsline, January 3

From Shelly Yacimovich announcing she wouldn't join a coalition with Netanyahu, to construction in Jerusalem neighborhoods beyond the green line peaked in 2012, Haaretz brings you the top 8 headlines you might have missed.

Labor Chairwoman Shelly Yacimovich announced Thursday morning that she would not join a coalition government headed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Likud-Beiteinu, saying she would prefer to serve as the leader of the next Knesset opposition

Settlers in the Jordan Valley are farming more than 5,000 dunams (1,250 acres) of private Palestinian land located between the border fence and the actual border with Jordan.

Willi Voss, a German criminal who worked for the Palestinian terrorist organization Black September has revealed in a new book that the CIA recruited him following the massacre of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics to thwart anti-Israel activities.

Construction in Jerusalem neighborhoods beyond the green line peaked in 2012, with a record number of land tenders approved. According to the organization Ir Amim, 6,932 units were approved for future construction in 2012, compared to 1,772 in 2011 and 569 in 2010.

Zvi Bar'el writes that outside military intervention in Syria is still unlikely, despite the recent revelation that the number of dead in Syria's civil war is 20,000 greater than earlier estimates. A resolution in Syria, he writes, will ultimately depend on the rebels' ability to seize strategic locations.

Maccabi HMO will launch a free service on Thursday for people aged 65 and over that will allow patients to communicate with nurses and doctors through a tablet computer.

A study by Tomer Simon of Ben Gurion University in the Negev has shown that the social networking activity of Hamas during Operation Pillar of Defense was more effective than that of the Israel Defense Forces.

An Israel Defense forces failed attempt to arrest a wanted militant in Jenin early Thursday turned into a violent confrontation with local Palestinians, the second violent confrontation this week.